REPOST of Ancient Hawaiian Healing

Good morning - I trust you have woken feeling refreshed and ready to receive some South Pacific healing. This piece is being reposted as the original post slipped through the inter-crack. It is about an ancient Hawaiian practice called Ho'oponopono (ho-o-pono-pono) and was reintroduced to me recently by a dear friend during a particularly vulnerable moment I was experiencing. This sacred ritual actually occurs in most South Pacific islander traditions and is a beautiful form of self healing that you can do at any time and in any location (even during a meeting with the boss when things are a little twitchy!). From my own experiences, it can have profound effects on your health, happiness and wellbeing - I found it helped to release that trapped breath you get when you are experiencing 'fear'.

In Hawaii, the ritual commonly performed by an elder, healing priest or family leader is described as 'mental cleansing' and is employed upon the belief that illness is caused by breaking kapu or spiritual law, which must be 'put right' (pono). It is also held that the sickness cannot be cured until the sufferer sets right his or her 'error'. Have you ever had that nervous sick feeling in your stomach that goes on to affect your digestion after doing or saying something you regret? Sitting with the mental congestion of those regrets and the physical impact of them, could be changing the chemistry of your body in an adverse way. Science has connected the dots between stress hormone production, inflammation and most chronic diseases - particularly cancer.

The most likely causations of the stress/illness 'errors' are said to be through a person feeling anger, guilt, recriminations and lack of forgiveness. I would also like to add unresolved grief and prolonged anxiety (an extension of fear) to that list. Early healers would ask parents in a family where children were unwell - what did they do? It is thought that the children represent and reflect back the unrest within the family unit through their own health. In my own clinical practice I have seen this very phenomenon occur and I have also heard reports of animals also presenting with physical ailments similar to their cherished owners. It is amazing how fast a child's health improves when the parent is true to their feelings and working on releasing the stress causing ones.

The tradition is very simple, very gentle and takes just moments - and I recommend that the deeper your stress causing feeling is rooted to a person, situation or event and the more frequently you think about it, the more often you practice Ho'oponopono - until you are no longer charged up or plugged in. Here is the ritual for you to practice:

1. Take a deep breath in through the nose, hold it for a few seconds and breathe out.

2. Think about the situation, person or event around your concern and keep your breathing steady and deep and rhythmic.

3. Repeat to yourself in any order and at any time of the day or night (especially great when the 'error' keeps you awake at night) these four powerful phrases:

I am sorry

Please forgive me

I love you

Thank you

Following each of these phrases, reflect on the words before you move onto the next. Even if the other person may be also at fault, your role here is to release both of you from YOUR thoughts and feelings about the issue, and take responsibility for what you bought to the table. It is amazing when you do this what occurs in the days, weeks and months afterwards! After each sentence, you can add more information, such as 'I am sorry for my part in what has occurred, or for contributing to your pain'. Its really up to you as to how much illness you want to clean up in your body.

Give it a try, it can't hurt and even if it just sets your mood into a lighter space, you are already ahead of the damaging effects of stress causing feelings. Feel free to email me your experience when you invoke this wonderful ancient tradition of self forgiveness - I'd love to hear about them!

As a naturopath I believe that patients are looking for empathy, results oriented and achievable health advice as well as consideration for the family budget when it comes to supplement and remedy selection.Nicky Wood -Gold Coast Naturopath